Parental monitoring and alcohol use among Mexican students

Abstract

Parental monitoring has been described as a protective factor and useful strategy to prevent substance misuse among youths. The aims of this study were to examine whether perceived parental monitoring influences frequency of alcohol use, age of drinking onset and risky drinking among entering public high school and university students in Mexico City. The study is a cross-sectional survey of entering first year students in the high school and university school system of a large public university in Mexico City conducted during registration at the beginning of the school year. In 2008, of 34,840 students accepted to the affiliated high schools, 28,996 students (51.8% female) completed the alcohol survey and of 37,683 students accepted into university 30,084 students (51.5% female) completed the alcohol survey. The findings suggest that compared to students with higher perceived parental monitoring those reporting lower perceived parental monitoring were more likely to report risky behavior. They were more likely to be ever drinkers, frequent drinkers, have earlier age of onset and high AUDIT scores. Overall, higher parental monitoring was strongly associated with being female and lower parental monitoring with being male. Our findings suggest that more research on parental monitoring as a protective strategy against alcohol misuse is needed. Research focusing on cultural factors including gender and age-related norms and familismo would increase knowledge of the association of parental monitoring and alcohol use among Mexican youths, Mexican American youths and potentially youths from other Hispanic backgrounds.

Adolescents Admitted to In-Patient Treatment with Alcohol Intoxication: Risk and Resilience Factors Associated with Problematic Alcohol Use

“…These results are in line with findings from studies with non-AIA samples. For example, higher parental monitoring has also been found to be associated with less heavy drinking [16,39] and less problematic alcohol use in adolescence [40]. Also, our finding that deviant peer behavior is associated with problematic alcohol consumption in AIA is in accordance with other studies in adolescent populations [41,42].…”

Changes in Alcohol Use Among First Year University Students in Mexico

“…Cross-sectional surveys of entering first year university students in Mexico City found 75% of males and 66% of females drank in the past year in 2005 (Díaz-Martínez et al, 2008), 26.9% of students reported drinking 4+ drinks on a single occasion in 2007 (Solís-Torres, Gorab-Ramírez, & Fernández-Varela, 2012) and in 2008 86.3% of students ages 17-19 reported being ever drinkers with 35.2% of males and 23.7% of females drinking 2+ times per month (Strunin et al, 2013). These rates reflect the most recent National Survey of Addiction ( Little is known about reasons for drinking among university students in Mexico and what factors may influence increased or decreased use after entering university.…”

“…Although enhancement, social, and coping motives may be reasons for drinking among all young people (Kuntsche, Knibbe, Gmel, & Engels, 2005), social context and social influences are considered the most important predictors among college students (Read, Wood, Kahler, Maddock, & Palfai, 2003). This paper explores reasons for changes in drinking frequency, quantity, and related behaviors among first year students at a large public university in Mexico City where previous studies of entering first year students show most students report drinking (Díaz-Martínez et al, 2008;Solís-Torres et al, 2012;Strunin et al, 2013). The study of Mexican young people is from phase one of a project investigating patterns of alcohol use, including alcohol-related risk behavior and protective factors, cultural attributes that may modify or prevent the likelihood of risk taking, and will indicate whether specific cultural factors affect beliefs and behaviors about alcohol use.…”

The Association of Low Parental Monitoring With Early Substance Use in European American and African American Adolescent Girls

“…Numerous studies examining parental monitoring and substance use outcomes include individuals from various racial/ethnic minority groups (Byrnes et al, 2011;DiClemente et al, 2001;Fang et al, 2011;Klima et al, 2014;Marsiglia et al, 2012;Reifman et al, 1998;Stanton et al, 2002;Strunin et al, 2013;Tobler & Komro, 2010), and despite some evidence of lower parental monitoring levels in African American (AA) than European American (EA) families (Bird et al, 2001;Griesler & Kandel, 1998;Mahabee-Gittens et al, 2012), racial/ethnic differences in the degree of association between parental monitoring and early substance use have not been consistently reported (c.f., see Bohnert et al, 2009).…”